Barely Alive
by KiwiMangoKoalaTurtle
Summary: Alison Jackson has the task of drugging the Slytherin Prince with Draught of Living Death. What she doesn't know is that Draco is already dying inside, walking around half alive almost. Will she go through with the dastardly prank, or will she decide to turn against her friends to save Draco? -Please R&R, it would mean so much to me!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own any character aside from my OC.**

She smiled to herself as the liquid in her cauldron turned a satisfying clear, watery colour. In the dark, cold classroom, she had been brewing the potion for the past hour almost, being silent as a ghost. Carefully, the student rummaged through her professor's desk and picked a right-sized vial. She returned to the cauldron and filled the vial with the watery liquid. After she was sure there was no sign of her presence, the girl fled the dungeon classroom.

She wrapped a chain tightly around the neck of the vial and slid the mock-necklace over her head. It now hung above her bosom, nestled in her school shirt collar. The dark corridor was not frightening to her as it was to her friends; the moving portraits blurred by as she sped to her common room.

"Periwinkle pasties," she said to the nearly asleep pink-wearing lady once she got to her common room's portrait hole. The fat woman yawned and opened up for her. The girl stepped into her common room and quietly walked up to her dorm, going straight to bed. She stuffed her Advanced Potion Making book into her book bag. The girl climbed into bed and lay there for a while, her fingers lingering on the Draught of Living Death around her neck.

–

Let's backtrack a bit, shall we? The girl sneaking around Hogwarts, brewing potions without permission, and then leaving no trace of it has a name and a story. Her name is Alison Jackson – preferring to be called Ali – a pretty young half-blood. Her hair fell in long, brown strands and her bangs cutting across her forehead in long layers. She had striking, icy blue eyes and a devious smile. She was a Gryffindor, and darn well proud of that. Ali was friends with the Golden Trio, believe it or not.

On this particular night, Ali had snuck off to brew the Living Death for a very devious prank indeed. Hermione Granger had told her that if she went along with it, she'd regret it. But, Ali, Harry and Ron hadn't listened. Harry was hesitant, but trouble always seemed to find him either way. Hermione still was unaware of the three's disloyalty to her rules about pranking, and probably wouldn't find out until later.

In the morning, Alison met her three friends at the Gryffindor's breakfast table. She sat, fingering the bottle around her neck. Hermione didn't notice; she was too engulfed in today's _Daily Prophet. _Ali leaned across her empty plate to Ron and Harry.

"I have it," she said in a low voice. "What now?" Ron cracked a grin, his eyes sparkling.

"If you can manage it, we need you to sneak into the Slytherin-"

"What about Slytherin?" Interjected Hermione. Ali sat back down, turning and smiling at her friend.

"We're just talking about how horrible those stupid Slytherins are," Harry replied, smoothing over the truth. Hermione nodded and returned to the paper. Again Ali leaned to whisper to her male friends.

"Why do I need to sneak into _that _place? It's probably atrocious and full of..snakes and stuff." She shuddered at the mere mention of the reptiles.

"Because...okay, so we think Malfoy," Ron hissed the name as if it was venom in his mouth, "stole something of ours. We don't know what, but our stuff has been disappearing lately. Most importantly, Harry's invisibility cloak. We want you to knock him out and search his dormitory. So are you up to it?" Ali sat back slowly and turned to the Slytherin table. Malfoy sat, alone for once. He sat on the opposite end of everyone else, poking at his eggs and hardly touching his pumpkin juice. Ali felt a strange uncertainty about giving him the Draught.

"Well?" Ron prodded at her.

"So what, do I just slip it into his drink at dinner and..?" Harry nodded.

"It takes about thirty minutes to an hour to fully kick in. He'll be in his dorm by then."

"Well, jeez, that's nice and all. How am I going to get in there, though?"

Hermione flipped the page in the _Prophet_.

"Easy. You wear Slytherin robes and act like a lost student. Say you're new, a transfer from Beauxbatons and you just got here or something. Make up a french accent. Do your hair and makeup; they're stupid enough to believe you." Ali couldn't help but think how sly and cunning this plan sounded. Almost as if Slytherins themselves had come up with it. Awesome.

"I can do that. No problem." She cleared her throat. "Excuse moi, where is the Slytherin dormitory?" She mimicked the French accent almost perfectly.

"Sweet. You're good to go."

After breakfast, the four went to their classes. In Potions that morning, Slytherin and Gryffindor had to pair up with one another to brew a particularly difficult potion. Ali tucked her vial into her shirt, internally laughing; they were brewing the Draught of Living Death. However, the class would not keep their potions.

It just so happened that Professor Snape paired Ali up with Draco Malfoy. She felt a little bad about drugging him later, so she was semi-nice to the blonde.

Malfoy sneered at Ali as he walked over to her desk. That was all it took to drop Ali's mission of being nice to him.

"Hello, _partner_. Don't screw this up for me. Just sit there, look pretty, and let me do this." Draco squinted at her. Did she just call him pretty? She was probably being sarcastic, but..

"You may begin," droned Snape. Ali made her way to the supply closet, juggling everything in her arms. On the way back to her desk, she passed Ron and almost dropped the jar of moondew. Draco turned and swept down in time to catch it, scowling at Ali.

After they'd collected their ingredients, Draco leaned back on his stool, crossed his arms, and watched his partner work. She'd tied her long hair back, letting her bangs hang in front of her slightly.

_Ugh, if she wasn't a filthy Gryffindor half-blood...I might think she's kind of pretty, _he thought to himself.

Within the hour, the 'partners' had successfully concocted the brew. Draco handed it into Professor Snape and went back to the desk. The class ended and his partner was out of there faster than he could blink. What was that girl's problem? She acted as if she was about to commit a dirty act...

**So that was the first chapter of my story...I hope you like it! I haven't wrote in a while and I'm a bit rusty but bear with me :)  
Please review! The faster the reviews, the faster I update!**


	2. Chapter 2

"Dracy-poo! You're all aloneee! Let me sit with you honey bunches!" Squealed Pansy Parkinson, plopping next to Malfoy. Ali could hear it from halfway across the room. She rolled her eyes and scarfed down her eggs.

"So are you gonna do it today?" Ron asked, sitting down next to her at the breakfast table. Ali moved over a little to give him room.

"Yeah, I guess so. The potion expires in, like, three days. So I don't have much of a choice when I do it," she replied, shrugging. Ron smiled and patted her arm.

"Where are Hermione and Harry?" Ali looked past her ginger friend at the door.

"Decided to skip out on breakfast. 'mione's helping Harry with homework." His friend nodded.

Ali turned and looked at the Slytherins again. Pansy was literally all over Malfoy. Ali frowned as the Pug-faced girl leaned in to kiss Draco's cheek. This shouldn't have bothered Alison, but it did.

That afternoon, Ali was packing up just before Potions ended. She was stuffing her Advanced Potion Making book into her bag when she sensed someone was behind her. She straightend her back and turned to face them.

"Professor Snape wants to see you after class," Malfoy reported smoothly. His cold grey eyes were emotionless. Ali raised an eyebrow.

"Couldn't he have told me himself?" Malfoy shook his head and nodded to where the professor was. He was lecturing Ron on something as usual; probably giving him detention as well.

"Oh, fine. Um, thanks for letting me know, I guess." Her eye twitched when she thanked the weasel. He smirked and walked off. The class hurried out when the bell rang. Soon, it was just Snape, Alison and Malfoy. Ali walked over to her teacher's desk.

"Uh, you wanted to see me?" she asked nervously. Snape looked up.

"Yes. You were the only one in the class to perfectly brew the Draught of Living Death...care to tell me why that is?" His monotonous voice sent scared chills down her spine. Malfoy lingered nearby.

"Um, well," Ali bit the inside of her cheek. "I've been studying for a while. It wasn't really hard, anyway. I just followed the instructions." The lie hung in the air between them. Snape studied the girl. Finally, he nodded.

"Fine. You may go." Ali rushed out of the classroom, not wanting to stick around to hear what he had to say to Malfoy.

That night, everyone sat down to dinner. Ali and her friends sat at the edge of the Gryffindor table, so Ali could watch Malfoy. That sounds creepy, but it was essential for the 'plan.' After the food appeared, Ali got up and walked around to the Slytherin table. She was about to pass Draco – who was alone – so she bent to tie her shoe. This was the the distraction would go down.

Ron walked into the Great Hall – he'd been watching from the big doors – and pretended to faint. Everyone who was watching gasped and jumped up. Malfoy stood and inched closer to see if the ginger had really fainted. Alison used this time to pour most of the potion into his pumpkin juice. Then, she ran over to Ron as well.

As dinner ended and the students made their way to the doors, Ali searched the crowd for her victim. Malfoy was slowly getting up, suddenly groggy. He yawned and walked out of the Hall.

Not very many minutes later, Alison was in the Gryffindor common room, fluffing up her recently curled hair. She had let Ginny do her makeup (Ron's sister had insisted she be a part of this plan) and she almost looked like a french girl. Harry had supplied the Slytherin uniform – his friends didn't ask where he got _those –_ and soon Ali was a french exchange student in Slytherin.

Within moments she was wandering the halls of Hogwarts, getting closer and closer to the Slytherins' dungeon common room with each passing minute. She heard footsteps shuffeling toward her and kept walking, her heart racing.

"Huh? What're you doing wandering the halls this late?" Malfoy himself asked her. She turned on her heel and sucked in a breath. He looked positively exhausted.

"Um," she started, remembering to use an accent, "I'm lost. I-I've exchanged from Beauxbatons and I don't- I mean, I can't find the Slytherin dormitory?" She put on a heavy accent. It was convincing to the sleepy blonde. He nodded.

"Come with me, I'll lead you there." Ali smiled widely and followed Malfoy.

"So you're new here?" He looked back at her. She nodded, her eyes wide. "Cool. Slytherin's the best house out of all four, so you're lucky," he grinned at her. _Grinned_! Ali was sure he was only capable of sneering or smirking.

"Well, I'm glad to be here. I've heard stories about the house.." Draco waved it off.

"They're probably all myths. We're not bloodsucking snakes or anything. But we _are _awesome." At this Ali giggled.

"Here we are. Pure-blood," he said to the stone wall in front of them. It moved and the two stepped into the common room. Ali was amazed; she had figured Slytherins were lazy and filthy. She was so, so wrong. The Slytherin common room was gorgeous; there were intricately carved figures on the walls, and the arches connecting rooms were tall and elegant. The furniture was dark green leather. A fire crackled in the fireplace, under a carving of intertwined snakes. Green lanterns hang from the ceiling, casting an eerie light on the surrounding items. Ali could hear the gentle sounds of swishing water outside. It was calming.

Draco yawned into the empty room.

"The girls' dormitory are that way. Good luck at Hogwarts." He smiled sleepily and went the opposite way he pointed; to the boy's dorms.

"Thank you," she called after him. Ali could have sworn he blushed. She waited for about fifteen minutes before following him. He had left his door ajar, so she walked right in.

_Woah,_ she thought. Malfoy had his own freakin' room in the castle. It was..gorgeous. Malfoy lay, sleeping, on a queen-sized four-poster bed with green covers. Above his headboard was an elegantly framed mirror. Alison noticed he had no pictures whatsoever, like most students decorated their dorms with. She sneaked up next to the bed to make sure Draco was really asleep. His chest rose and fall gently, his breathing deep. She felt oddly bad for him; he would be asleep for a very, very long time. Ali saw dark shadows circling his closed eyes. Huh.

Remembering why she was here, Alison searched the room. First, under the bed. Why not? There was nothing but lint and dust bunnies. Next she searched his dresser. The top drawer held nothing but clothes. The second drawer was empty except for a note that had been folded many times. Ali was already invading his privacy enough; she didn't read it. The bottom drawer held a soft, sheer blanket. Ali pulled it out: it was Harry's invisibility cloak! Ali stuffed it in the designer bag that was strapped across her shoulder. Under that was a rectangular box that held various other objects, but none of them were Ali's friends'. They looked personal. Closing the drawer, she stood and took one last look at Draco. A crazy idea came to her.

She left the dungeon room and made her way to the Potions class. She gathered several ingredients and started brewing. This was risky. After she finished making a potion, she ran back to Draco's room, out of breath. Leaning over him, she propped his head up on a pillow and pressed the vial of Awakening potion to his lips. It ran down his throat and Ali suddenly forgot that it didn't take long to start working. Once the vial was empty, she put it in her bag and started to leave. She didn't anticipate the yawning she'd hear.

"Woah...how long was I asleep?" She heard Draco mutter. Her heart raced; she ran into the closest thing: a tall, dark wardrobe. Pulling the doors closed, she pressed herself into the shirts and jackets. She heard Draco sit up.

"Hm... I had a long day anyway.." he yawned again and started over to the wardrobe. Ali prayed he wouldn't open the doors. Instead, he got distracted by something. Ali peeked out.

He was kneeling next to his dresser. Crap! Alison had forgotten to put the folded note back in. He picked it up and narrowed his eyes.

"Get out of my closet."


End file.
